There is one thing I did get though, I filmed it on the last night I was there. We were staying at a hotel called Hotel Barcelona Universal, and from my room, I had a great view across the Paral Lel, the street out in front. Across the street was this beautiful building facade, all made of video, that had a big windmill attached to the front of it. The name? El Molino, or “the Mill.” Check it out:

Not really much to look at from the outside, right? I mean, it’s fun and all, and obviously there is something happening of fun inside of the building. However, El Molino has an enormous video wall outside that is pretty beautiful, and there is some very fun content that is displayed on the video wall. It’s huge in comparison of the other parts of the facade!

This building underwent a major renovation after a 1997 closing of the theatre, which from what I found was the first time it was ever actually closed. The venue has a pretty interesting history; from the El Molino website, translated from Catalan:

The story of the Mill began in 1898, when the owner of the task The Aviary, a modest cabin located in Vila Vila Rosal corner, sold his business to 100 pesetas. The new owner will change its name to The Aviary Catalan and mount a small empostissat. After three years with a musical program stable, the local had already found its place in the world of entertainment Parallel.

After a brief flirtation with the movies under the name Grand Salon Siglo XX, in 1908 there was another change of owner and renamed Petit Moulin Rouge, in imitation of the famous Moulin Rouge in the Montmartre district of Paris.The new business is designed to bring the nightly entertainment cabarets of Paris “in Spanish”. It is the time of the Music Hall, which appropriates the same time, he sees as his fame avenue that the highest number of shows in Europe grows.

So the entire point of this post was to show the video I recorded of the video content of the video wall outside of El Molino. Check it out, this is some fun architainment!

Romain Tardy and Thomas Vaquié are the creating artists on this one — from the AntiVJ Blog:

Last year, we were approached to create our first permanent installation for the new museum of architecture of Hala Stulecia, in Wroclaw, Poland. The piece – that we called O (Omicron), is actually the last part of the visit, and a way to create a link between the rich history of the building and the present times, by turning this massive concrete structure into a lively architecture.

When opened, Hala Stulecia was the largest reinforced concrete structure in the world. With a diameter of 65m it was home to the largest dome built since the Pantheon in Rome eighteen centuries earlier.
The Centennial Hall was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006.

It is reasonable to think that when Hala Stulecia was built in 1913 Max Berg’s ambition for his construction was to pass the test of time. What could have been his vision of the monument in the distant future? How did he imagine the olding of the materials? The evolution of the surrounding urbanism and populations?

The piece proposed for the Centennial Hall of Wroclaw is based around the notion of timelessness in architecture, and the idea of what future has meant throughout the 20th century.

Taking the 1910’s as a starting point (the dome was erected in 1913), historical and artistic references were used to reveal the architecture of the space, its timeless and, more surprisingly, very modern dimension.

This building is called the Hala Stulecia (Centennial Hall); it’s a Max Berg structure, built when the German Empire was still owner of the city of Wrocław. Here’s the structure in a way that makes us lighting designers more comfortable, with truss and chain motors in it:

This building is amazing:

When opened, Hala Stulecia was the largest reinforced concrete structure in the world. With a diameter of 65m it was home to the largest dome built since the Pantheon in Rome eighteen centuries earlier. The Centennial Hall was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006. Taking the 1910’s as a starting point (the dome was erected in 1913), historical and artistic references were used to reveal the architecture of the space, its timeless and, more surprisingly, very modern dimension.

A deliberately minimalist visual aesthetic allowed to highlight the very architecture of Hala Stulecia’s dome and re-affirm its place at the core of the piece.

That’s an Amstel Live 2012 video mapping dance interactive visual orgasm act featuring Timor Stephens. HOLY SH*T! Did you see how wonderfully the LED suits were programmed along with the other automated lighting and projections?! I was mesmerized by those suits. I had to find out more – they’re from a company called iLuminate. They’ve been doing light-up suits all over the place! Check out iLuminate’s video reel:

The production company is Tribe Company BV, and the rental company was a subsidiary of PRG, EML Productions Holland. Beautiful work, EML! The dancers are Timor Steffens, Alexandria Kaye, Catalina Paz Rendic Vasquez, Jonathan William Rabon, and Brandon Barton. GREAT work!

I grabbed this image from Tribe Company‘s website of the Amstel Live setup, it’s such a great picture:

GAH! This is AWESOMENESS! Happy Monday, everyone! What an awesome way to start it up!

During the day, the sun plays on the shapes and structures made by the memorial chairs, and the trees take care of giving the entire site a nice textured light to soften the reality of why the site is there. At night though, the Memorial grounds are transformed; there is no longer a need to see everything. The soft light and the directional path on which your eye is taken leads to the most pertinent areas of the memorial, from the field of empty chairs at night, each with an illuminated lower section, to the Survivor Tree, where you are given yet another view of the field of chairs. To me, I feel the most solemn when visiting the memorial at night. Obviously though, I’m a lighting designer, and I could find the emotion in a stray beam of light that came from some intergalactic star burp.

Just as a quick spatial guide, as you are at the memorial, if you enter and are standing looking with the chairs on the left or right, you are looking down Fifth Street. FIfth used to run continuously between Classen and I-235, but the Memorial now sits at the spot of the bombing. The chairs you will see are located where the building used to sit, and the chairs represent people killed in the explosion. To be quite honest, I don’t know if you’re supposed to go onto the grassy area where the chairs are, but I just had to be close enough to pay my respects to the victims. I also went at night though, I didn’t want to cause a bother.

Here are the chairs and the grounds from the building directly across the street from where the Murrah Building once stood:

You’ll notice in the image above that there are two arches that stop Fifth Street – one that says 9:01, and the other that says 9:03. These are the Gates of Time. At the eastern most side of the Memorial is 9:01 – the minute before the bombing, where life as we knew it was one way. The bombing occurred at 9:02am, which is represented by the large reflecting pool and I believe the Memorial itself. 9:03, at the western most end of the Memorial, is where we now know life to be – after the bombing, after the death, after the bomber’s death.

Here’s the same view from my apartment, but in the evening:

What a beautiful memorial – you must commend the designers of this memorial, Hans and Torrey Butzer and Sven Berg, for their wonderful use of the night and the light in their design.

Below is a Gallery View of the photos – if you click on any one thumbnail, it will open the series in Gallery format for your enjoyment! I have given each titles and some descriptions to give you bearing as you navigate through the set.

I woke up this morning before the sun’s alarm went off, and the lights of the city were still gleaming beautifully. It put me in such an amazing mood. I hope that I can pass some of this great mood onto you all this morning!

Here’s a start – check out this clock tower, smack in the center of Prague, that just celebrated its 600th birthday. Mapping company Macula mapped the clock with animations, while sound company Data-Live created the soundscape. Tomato Production handled all of the site’s production needs. Prepare to get rocked.

Peeps, I have so much content from LightFair 2010 that I am now getting to for your visual excitement – show floor, product reviews, interviews, photography, and general awesomesauce that’s up and coming in the next few days. Las Vegas provides SO much good content! Wait, is that an oxymoron?

This afternoon I have an excellent eye opener for you – hopefully that will blast you off into the day artistically! While in Las Vegas, everyone’s favorite luxess and JimOnLight.com’s official photog Amanda Lynne Ballard took some photos of the Wynn outdoor lighting garden attraction designed by Patrick Woodroffe and his team. I really have nothing that I can possibly type that compares to the work she took, so here goes my shut mouth. Enjoy!

A few favorites first, then an image gallery. We got the image gallery set up so that you can comment on individual pictures now!

I was with Jefferson Waful and TJ Gerckens for the NAB Show 2010 in Vegas this year, and after a fantastic meal at the Bellagio we decided to go check out the patio bar at the Wynn. For those of you who have never seen the exhibit, it’s something that you probably need to make a point to see if you’re any kind of a designer or lighting artist.

Actually, any kind of an artist whatsoever should see the exhibit. It is absolutely beautiful.

Imagine a hillside covered with lush pines, a lake with figure silhouettes standing, and a large water screen in the middle rear of the view. Add a ton of moving beams of light within the trees, playing on their every angle, line, and color, and dancing with the water and the atmosphere around the lake. If that wasn’t excellent enough, the lake itself has a large LED field underneath the water, which turns the water’s surface into a running-screaming-dancing-singing body of amazing.

Check out this video – I took some typical Spaz Cam footage of a few parts of the revolviong show that plays while you drink on the patio – I hope it gives you some sense of how beautiful this installation is – great work, Patrick Woodruffe!

(and yes, I know that this is not necessarily a “new” story, as this thing was conceived several years ago. However, new to me, so I gotta believe others have not seen it too!)

There is also an unbelievably great article (very in-depth) on the process, work, and installation with Patrick and his team. Bob and Colleen Bonniol wrote the article for Live Design, and it is outstanding.

This video is amazing. I love love love this kind of architectural lighting – lots of people refer to this kind of work as “architainment.” Frankly I like to just call it what it is, which is effing amazing. Check out this video, thanks to awesome JimOnLight.com reader Kevin Jamison: